Once upon a time a long time ago there was this little brown bird that couldn't fly because he thought his beak was too large and his belly too fat. The little bird would always try to fly, but every time he went to take off, he would think about falling from the sky, and suddenly he would bellyflop back into the water. He would do this from the time he got up until the time he went to bed. That's how bad he wanted to fly. While he struggled to fly, all his brothers and sisters were soaring around the lake, playing, and having a great time.

One day after his tenth belly flop, a young egret came over to him. "I've been watching you," said the egret. "What's your name?"

"Pel," came a meek reply.

"I've been watching you for a while and I think I can solve your problem," said the egret.

Pel looked up with his big sad eyes and frowned as he said, "The only problem I have is I just can't fly."

The young egret said, "Yes you can. Just tell yourself 'I can!'"

Pel got back in the water and began to swim. He raised his wings. The egret yelled, "Hey Pel, tell yourself you can!"

As he swam and flapped his wings the egret heard in the distance as Pel lifted off the water and flew gracefully into the distance... "Pel, I can. Pel, I can, Pel, I can."